Disposable absorbent structures such as disposable diapers, sanitary napkins and incontinence pads have met with increased commercial acceptance in recent years primarily because of their convenience. Many different constructions have been proposed and used and some have met with widespread commercial success in spite of certain inadequacies in functional properties.
One of the most serious prior art problems has been the inability to provide a suitable construction that can accept a large void of body fluids. This is particularly true of the adult incontinent whether the incontinent be active and working or ill and bedridden. Various attempts have been made to provide special structures to absorb a large body fluid void. These include U.S. Pat. No. 3,441,024 to H. J. Ralph, U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,602 to H. J. Ralph, U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,798 to K. C. Hokanson, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,067,366 to R. L. Johnson. While these various constructions were designed to assist the adult incontinent, the problem of providing an overall disposable absorbent structure which will handle a full volume discharge of urine without leakage still remains.
Particularly when the incontinent is an adult, disposable structures generally have not accepted and held a full volume discharge of urine without leakage onto clothing. Although advances have been made in the sanitary napkin art to handle a full discharge of menstrual fluid (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,184,498 to P. Franco), disposable structures which will handle a complete urine void by an adult are absent. The present invention provides an absorbent structure which accepts and holds a complete urine void by an adult and which may be used as an infant diaper, an adult incontinence device, a sanitary napkin, an incontinence pad, or the like.